RE2 and RE3 will always be my favorites. I'd say RE2 is probably just a tad bit better than RE3 overall; but I really enjoyed RE3 almost equally in the end. Two very good games.
The first RE game I played was RE2, in fact. I eventually did rent the first one (PS1 version) out of curiosity, and I liked it, but didn't have time to complete it (and I don't think I ever rented it again after the first time; if I did then I honestly just don't remember). And now that I'm thinking about it I never bothered with RE1's remakes (or remasters, or whatever new versions of it exist). I know that the RE1 remake got good overall reviews so maybe one day I'll give it a go. The only 'extra' version of any RE game I bothered to play (rented once) was the N64 version of RE2 (and it was well worth it, very solid version especially considering it was running on the N64). Now, I do remember something in particular concerning RE3. When RE3 came out I remember pre-ordering it for a rent. It was a thing my local gaming store did from time to time (it only happened with specific games, wasn't done very often); you'd pay for the renting price (about $4 or so if I recall correctly) + 'reservation' fee of the rent ahead of time (which was around $5 extra or so; which was all done and payed usually around 2 weeks prior to a new game's release date), so around a total of $9 or $10, and the day he'd receive the games he'd keep a number for direct sales, and a number just for renting. He'd then call you the same day (of course) and you'd just go and pick it up for renting (I did that for RE3, and also for Perfect Dark, and maybe a few other games here and there). Anyway, I actually really liked RE3 as well, even Nemesis I thought was a nice touch for tension. I loved RE2 for almost everything, but (as it is known) the voice acting is one of the worst in the history of video gaming (it is cringe-worthy and uncomfortably bad to extreme levels). However, at the time, RE2 was especially technically pretty impressive (especially that long CGI intro, it was honestly impressive for the much younger me back then). And really liked RE3 for its setting, but only wished for the city to be bigger and the game in general to be lengthier (it was also a bit more action-oriented than RE2).
However, after RE3 I simply lost interest for the RE franchise. I didn't magically start to "hate" it or anything... I just moved to other games at the time I suppose. And because of that I never played RE4 to RE7, literally none of them, since RE3. I've seen a good bunch of Streams, and playthroughs on YouTube of some of those games, especially RE4 and RE7. I watched a bit of gameplay of the others (RE5, RE6, some of the remakes too, and the various versions of RE2 like the N64 and the GameCube, and some 'modded' / emulated ones) but none of that ever actually made me "excited" or interested again in playing the follow ups in the franchise. The reality is that I generally dislike "horror" oriented / themed games. I usually find them cringe-worthy, or I just can't get into them. The atmosphere of "horror" games, in my opinion, is in general way too "try hard", or too predictable; with very typical horror "mechanics" like flickering lights in an otherwise dark corridor (and you KNOW there's a trigger somewhere nearby that's going to provoke a 'jump scare', a sudden sound to pop-up from seemingly nowhere, or the moment you turn a door knob or turn on a room's light something is going to grab you from behind or... things like that; just plain predictable and boring; for me anyway). I'm not sure why or where this perception comes from (been wondering about that myself for years). I THINK that it may have something to do with having played the first two DOOM games (religiously so) starting from a pretty young age (and for years to follow). The thing is DOOM is a classic example (on a technical level) of 'triggers' (of course usually invisible to the eye for the player) that then activate 'spawns' in a room (you know, the classic "step on" specific floor tiles, or activate a 'switch' on a wall, and a portion of another wall opens in the vicinity, and demons attack, etc). My 'hypothesis' is that I became so much used to those "mechanics" over the years (I actually got to know maybe 90% of all Ultimate and DOOM 2's triggers by heart at some point) that whenever I play ANY types of games that remotely even just try to be somewhat "scary" I not only expect them to have such 'triggers' that will spawn a monster or generate a sound or open up a door or something... but I can even sometimes just plain predict them just by mere "gut feeling". I mean, DOOM 3 is definitely one such example (at that point in time I genuinely thought that it might "surprise" me... if only I knew how wrong I was ahead of time... oh boy). That one tried oh so very hard to be 'scary', it apparently worked for some (I'd suppose mostly the newcomers to the franchise at the time; then sure I could understand) but for me that's another great example of complete failure in that regard... but I'm starting to digress here.
So with the sole exceptions of a very few select games here and there that are "horror" themed (or at least made with heavy "suspense" in mind) I normally just avoid them. And RE2, RE3, along with the first and second Silent Hill games (especially the sequel) are among the very rare such games that I actually enjoyed.
With this said, I of course watched everything I could of the E3 footage and gameplay of Resident Evil 2 Remake, and I have to be honest here; that one is going to be a Day One purchase, no questions asked. And I'll play the crap out of that game. My perception of it is that RE2 Remake really is a once-in-a-life-time exception. Very few developers out there would go through the trouble (time, costs and technical challenges) to COMPLETELY and genuinely remake (literally) a game from scratch (and with such a giant gap in years and generations of hardware and gaming trends and standards to go along with all this) while keeping it authentic enough to the original version. I'll go as far as to say that RE2 Remake has the potential to be the absolute best video game remake of all time (and I'm not talking about "Remasters" with updated sounds, textures and sometimes polygonal count on models here, I'm talking about remakes). The only contender for such a title that I can think of would be for FF7's Remake (but we haven't seen much of that one in about three years by now). I also perceive RE2 Remake as the highest form of video gaming art 'preservation'. There's the obvious efforts in many ways (beyond just mere emulation, for example) to keep the original code (and version) of the game going through the years and generations. But ALSO making a genuine remake of the game while trying their best to keep it as close and authentic as the very game they're remaking, whilst also applying 'modernity' and current standards to it... now THAT is serious dedication for a game. That kind of effort HAS to be done for way more than just financial gains. There has to be at least a few of the decision-makers responsible for that project to start with who deeply, genuinely care about RE2 that they went all out on it and gave it a full remake (especially in our day and age of constant "Remasters" popping left and right non-stop, most of which are just rushed out with updated textures and HD resolution support for a quick extra buck down their pipes while a bigger project is being worked on).
Anyway, talking about RE2 and RE3 does bring me back some good memories, long live those two games in whatever versions and iterations they can possibly get in the future.
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